Big 12 Punches Playoff Ticket

The Big 12 finally avoided a weekend of sweeping college football carnage. Ohio State and Miami choked, and Georgia almost joined them, but all four Big 12 teams tied for first won. 

That means the Big 12 has wrapped up a playoff spot. Whether they’ll jump Boise State for a first-round bye depends on the result of Boise State-UNLV in the Mountain West championship game on Friday. 

Here are some of the latest playoff projections: On3 ESPN

The college football world won’t stop talking about the at-large playoff spots. It’s criminal that BYU isn’t in the discussion, and I’ll tell you why in week fourteen’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Week Fourteen: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

No Upsets This Week

The Big 12 has typically been the lead chaos agent in college football this year, but during a completely chaotic rivalry week in the sport, the favorites took care of business. Combine that with a loss by #17 Tulane, and the Big 12’s playoff spot is secure. 

Arizona State should get a bump from the way they completely dismantled Arizona. The Sun Devils had a five-touchdown lead by halftime. Running back Cam Skattebo ripped off 177 yards and three touchdowns, and quarterback Sam Leavitt added three scores of his own. 

By the time it was all said and done, ASU had 643 yards of offense and 49 points one year after losing this game 59-23. 

The only negative from this game was the injury to star receiver Jordan Tyson. 

Unfortunately, we got confirmation today that he will miss Saturday’s game. That is a major concern for Arizona State’s offense, which is facing the league’s best pass defense. 

Speaking of the Cyclones, they took care of business against K-State to wrap up the first ten-win season in program history and punch their ticket to Arlington. 

They simply had to take what K-State was giving them. Thanks to K-State turnovers and special teams miscues, Iowa State had scoring drives of 27, 30, and 29 yards. The Cyclones also blocked a 21-yard field goal and forced a safety when Wildcat quarterback Avery Johnson raced backward into his own end zone to avoid a blitzer. 

K-State turned it over on their first play from scrimmage, and the Cyclones cashed it in for a touchdown six plays later and never trailed. 

ISU narrowly avoided heartbreak when BYU finally pulled away from Houston in a wild game with seven combined turnovers in the late-night window. A Houston win would have sent Colorado to the Big 12 title game.

The Cougars out-gained Houston by over 100 yards and looked like the better team, but three timely BYU turnovers kept the visitors in it. 

The final two Houston turnovers of the game came late in the fourth quarter after it had cut the BYU lead to six. You won’t see many plays wilder than this fumble from quarterback Zeon Chriss. 

BYU’s resume stacks up favorably against the other at-large bid contenders for the College Football Playoff, but unfortunately, it won’t matter. More on that later. 

Coach Prime and the Buffaloes can only wait to see their bowl destination after losing out on the first-place tiebreaker. They pounded Oklahoma State 52-0 a week after the Cowboys put a real scare into Texas Tech. 

Two-way star Travis Hunter stole the show with three touchdowns and an interception to put the finishing touches on his Heisman campaign. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders ensured he’ll leave as Colorado’s all-time leader in single-season passing yards and touchdowns by throwing for 438 yards and five scores.

I LOVED what Coach Prime said after the game about their bowl game. He even took a shot at his alma mater. Take a listen. 

I’m guessing that’s a sentiment many Colorado haters are surprised to hear. Prime is doing things the right way, whether you like it or not. 

The only way the weekend could have gone better for the Big 12 was if Oregon State would have pulled the upset on Boise State. It’s now as simple as this: if the Broncos beat UNLV Friday in the Mountain West title game, they’ll get the first-round bye in the playoff. If not, the Big 12 champion should. 

Baylor, TCU, and Texas Tech Finish Strong

Three teams from the state of Texas that stumbled to sluggish starts this year finished the season as the hottest teams in the league, minus Arizona State. 

Baylor finished with six straight wins after walloping Kansas 45-17 on Senior Day in Waco. 

The Jayhawks entered the game just as hot as the Bears and had bowl eligibility to play for, but Baylor put this one away early. The Bears jumped out to an early 21-7 lead before burying Kansas with three straight touchdown drives to start the third quarter. 

The stars showed up – quarterback Sawyer Robertson threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns, and running back Bryson Washington rushed for 192 yards. 

That tandem may make Baylor one of the preseason favorites to get to the Big 12 championship game in 2025. As of right now, the Bears will have 15 starters coming back. 

Texas Tech put the final nail in West Virginia head coach Neal Brown’s coffin in Lubbock with a 52-15 drubbing of the Mountaineers. 

Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire now has the first eight-win regular season at Texas Tech since the late Mike Leach in 2009 and the first six conference win season since 2008. He’s put together three straight winning conference seasons, which even Leach didn’t accomplish. 

Change is still on the horizon. McGuire fired defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter on Sunday and lost former five-star receiver Micah Hudson to the transfer portal. But the arrow is pointing up right now in Lubbock. 

TCU had the quietest strong finish of anybody in the league. The Horned Frogs were never on the fringe of the Big 12 title discussion, but holding Cincinnati off on Saturday gave them wins in five of their last six games to finish 8-4. 

If the Frogs had held on to a three-touchdown lead against UCF in September, a lot more would have been on the table down the home stretch of the season. 

This year provides some much-needed solid footing for head coach Sonny Dykes moving forward. Another losing season would have made accusations of 2022 being a fluke difficult to shake. Instead, Dykes showed real growth as a coach. He didn’t let a 3-3 start with brutal losses to UCF and SMU derail the entire season. 

Coordinators Kendall Briles and Andy Avalos acquitted themselves well in the second half of the season, and there should be real optimism about 2025 – even with losing key offensive pieces Jack Bech and Savion Williams.

Travis Hunter Wraps up the Heisman

If I haven’t made this clear enough already, Travis Hunter would get my Heisman vote. 

The discourse on this has become so contentious. Hunter proponents will tell you that what he’s doing is unprecedented, and his level of play on both sides of the ball with an obscene snap count every week is worthy of college football’s highest honor.  

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty supporters will tell you that Hunter isn’t that special on either side of the ball, and what’s actually unprecedented is the amount of yardage Jeanty piles up week after week when opposing defenses know exactly what’s coming. 

I respect the hell out of Jeanty. He has a top-five rushing season in college football history this year and is worthy of winning the award – no doubt about it. I just think there’s more novelty to what we’re seeing from Hunter. He’s also the one who leaves my jaw on the floor more often.

Aside from just the highlight reel, Hunter’s production is crazy. He’s tied for first in the country in touchdown receptions (14), second in receptions (92), fourth in receiving yards (1,152), and 12th in interceptions (4). 

Coach Prime wasn’t shy about making his case for Hunter. 

Regardless of which side you’re on, it appears that Hunter put the finishing touches on winning the award with his performance against Oklahoma State on Saturday. The betting market certainly reflects that.

He scored three touchdowns and grabbed an interception while filling up the highlight reel again. You have to see the body control on his fourth-quarter TD catch – it’s up there with his best highlights of the season. 

Hunter is poised to win this Big 12 vs. Boise State battle, but the Broncos may win the war to secure a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.

The Bad

Big 12 Coaches Getting Fired

Technically, only West Virginia’s Neal Brown is the head coach to be fired so far. The Mountaineers wasted little time making the move this weekend after a disappointing 6-6 season. 

It’s a move you had to make. Brown is a nice guy, but he only won more than six games once in six seasons. West Virginia is one of only four FBS programs that hasn’t been ranked since Brown took over in 2019. That’s simply not good enough at a place that has proven it can consistently be a top-25 program.  

My fear for Mountaineer fans is that AD Wren Baker will get suckered into hiring Jimbo Fisher or Rich Rodriguez, two popular names with fans. 

Jimbo has West Virginia ties and a national title on his resume, but that was over a decade ago. The game has changed, and his days as an elite coach are long gone. Texas A&M was so desperate to get rid of his mediocrity that they paid him $76 million to go away. This has Kansas hiring Les Miles vibes written all over it. 

Rich Rod wouldn’t be that bad, but hiring him won’t magically turn the clock back to 2007. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. I get it. He’s had a few nice seasons at Jacksonville State, but why isn’t anybody else beating down his door? 

I’d be extremely hesitant to hire a guy who was a disaster at Michigan and merely solid at Arizona since he left Morgantown. 

Forget the sexy and nostalgic names; WVU needs to hire a good ball coach. To me, that guy is Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. It sounds like he will get an interview. 

I know Mountaineer fans have their sights set higher, especially with a certain Hall of Fame coach with West Virginia ties who is currently retired. 

WVU alum Pat McAfee has the Mountaineer fan base on fire thanks to a couple of tweets (here and here) suggesting something big may be in the works. 

UCF head coach Gus Malzahn didn’t technically get fired, but he was probably about to be, so he took the Florida State offensive coordinator gig. 

Frankly, I’m a little surprised FSU head coach Mike Norvell wanted Malzahn for such a crucial hire that will ultimately decide his fate in Tallahassee, but this is an incredible deal for UCF fans.

The Knights avoid paying a $12 million buyout and can move on immediately. Malzahn also gets a fresh start and can rebuild his image if he gets the Seminole offense rolling. 

Big 12 Perception Issues

The College Football Playoff at-large spots are generating much debate right now. SEC contenders have bungled their way through November, leaving the door open for everybody else to take the final spots. 

The tide has actually turned somewhat on the SEC. Many prominent college football voices have stopped making excuses for the conference (except for one former Baylor Bear). Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire offered some great commentary on the subject. 

There’s plenty of talk right now about the ACC getting multiple teams into the playoff. If Clemson beats SMU to steal the league’s auto-bid, both SMU and Miami will be seriously considered. 

Why isn’t BYU in that same discussion right now? They have the same record as Miami, a far better win than anything on Miami’s schedule (at SMU), and better strength of schedule (44 vs. 55). 

SMU’s strength of schedule is even worse (75). It’s insane that they would get more consideration than the same BYU team that handed them one of their two losses in their own building.

A huge part of this is where BYU started the season. If they were a preseason top-25 team, they would get better treatment. The Big 12’s problem is that the teams that tied for first – Arizona State, Iowa State, BYU, and Colorado – were all picked in the bottom half of the league’s preseason poll. 

If Utah, K-State, Oklahoma State, and Kansas were all tied for first, the league would be in the two-bid conversation. College football always has been and always will be too much of a beauty pageant. This is exhibit A.  

The Ugly

Year One of the Brent Brennan Era

Mercifully, year one of the Brent Brennan era ended in Tucson on Saturday. The Wildcats got absolutely demolished by their Territorial Cup arch-rivals 49-7 and finished 4-8. 

Things started on a promising note for Brennan after he convinced quarterback Noah Fifita and receiver Tetairoa McMillan to stick around. But nothing went right this year in a season that was the total opposite of last year’s ten-win campaign. 

There was plenty of chatter about Wildcat donors working behind closed doors to get buyout money ready, but AD Desireé Reed-Francois told multiple media outlets that Brennan is getting a second season. 

“Coach Brennan deserves a fair chance to be successful,” Reed-Francois told the Arizona Daily Star. “So, yes, he is coming back next year.”

According to Wildcat Authority's Jason Scheer, his second season won’t be without changes. 

That’s to be expected. Running it back isn’t typically an option when things go this poorly. 

I never thought Arizona was a place with the appetite and/or cash to fire a coach after one year, so I’m not surprised. This isn’t Auburn, after all. 

But the mood of the fan base means Brennan’s seat should be pretty warm heading into 2025.

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